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Lent & Social Media in the Church
On this week’s JustLove, Monsignor Sullivan kicks off Lent by discussing how it could be observed in 2017. On the show Sherry Hayes Pierce an Independent Social Media Consultant who helps Catholic parishioners, parishes and dioceses improve their social media skills and incorporate social media in their evangelization efforts through her blog and website Church Social Tips. Msgr. Sullivan and Sherry will be talking about why it is so important to share the faith on our social media pages – especially during Lent – as well as discussing what types of social media posts parishes and dioceses should be posting in order to engage their followers. Jacquie Martin a recent…
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My Guide to Unwimpy Fasting
This fasting thing is complicated. If you doubt, check out the first of today’s reading. It’s gotten a bad name in many religious circles and yet it’s made a real surge in some secular ones – go figure. In Catholic circles, in my less than humble opinion, we’ve become whooshes on fasting (I include within fasting what is technically abstinence). Here’s the “rigorous” demand placed on Catholics for Lent: 1) Ash Wednesday and all the Fridays of Lent no meat. Big deal – only cheese pizza, shrimp, chocolate cake and sushi on 6 of the 40 days. Don’t get me started on those who ask and those who grant…
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Hang with God on this First Lenten Thursday
No ashes or other give-aways today – not even a name for the Thursday after Ash Wednesday. So just quietly hang with God and rejoice in his invitation to live and love: Deuteronomy 30:15-20 “Today I set before you life and prosperity… Choose life then that you and you descendants may live by loving the Lord, your God, heeding his voice and holding fast to him.” Click here for the full reading.
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#MakeLentGreatAgain2017
After His baptism, Jesus went into the desert where he prayed and fasted for 40 days and spent this time in silence. At the end, he was tempted three times by the devil. Check out the full details in the readings for the First Sunday of Lent. This part of Jesus’ life serves as a prototype of Lent. You may have heard about a little day called Ash Wednesday – and if you haven’t you’ll be reminded of it because many of your neighbors and business associates will have a black smudge on their foreheads. A little Catholic info: Churches burn the palms from last year’s Palm Sunday mass and…
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Truth. It’s More Important Than Ever.
The NY Times published a short piece covering a protest against banning some news outlets from a briefing by the White House Press Secretary last Friday. In my opinion, the protest was well warranted and worth covering. Others will be more eloquent and lengthy in their affirmations of the importance of a free press. I support them and think we need to deal with the real threat that exists at this moment. Having said that, the article covering the protest disturbed me because it revealed, probably inadvertently, one of our country’s current major problems – not limited to the press and media. The article began: On Sunday morning, the time…